Warrington Wolves held off a second half fightback against the Wigan Warriors to win 22-12 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Top of the table Wigan went into the match six points ahead of their rivals in third place but found themselves 10-0 down at half time after scores from Ben Westwood and Joel Monaghan.

Wigan stormed out of the blocks in the second half and pulled back to 12-10 ahead thanks to tries from Sam Tomkins and Anthony Gelling.

The visitors’ lead could have been further extended following a break from Dominic Crosby but Josh Charnley couldn’t capitalise on the field position and spurned the opportunity.

With their backs against the wall Warrington fought back and man of the match Micky Higham scored to give his side the lead once again.

Chris Hill scored with five minutes to go to secure the victory and the vital two points in the Super League table for the Wolves.

The visitors started strongly with repeat sets in Warrington’s half but their attack was stopped after a knock-on from a wayward pass by Matty Smith.

Warrington won the first penalty of the match after Hill was held down by Crosby inside the Wigan half. After a near-miss by Brett Hodgson the Wolves were put ahead by second-row Westwood. Wood made a run towards the sticks but was held up and after spreading the ball right Lee Briers’ pass created space for the forward who crashed over the line to score.

After withstanding another Wolves attack the Warriors found themselves up field with successive penalties. Tomkins came close to scoring but was held up over the line by the Warrington defence.

Hodgson was denied a try by the video referee after a superb solo effort on Wigan’s line. The full back took on Charnley and attempted to put the ball on the line but replays showed that he lost control of it as he stretched to score.

It took the Wolves more than 20 minutes to extend their advantage and they did so through Joel Monaghan. Briers slipped in a grubber kick after a dummy pass to Joel Monaghan and Pat Richards tried to swat the ball out of play but missed leaving the winger with an easy finish in the corner.

The Wolves found themselves 10-0 up at half time but Wigan hit back immediately after the break. Sam Tomkins managed to find a gap after pass from Smith and darted towards the line to score with an outstretched hand.

Wigan were forcing mistakes from the home side and came racing out of the blocks for the second half. Gelling levelled the scores with a controversial try on 50 minutes. Liam Farrell looked to have lost the ball in a tackle but play continued. The Warriors worked the ball to the left and Gelling sold the dummy to Hodgson and went through the gap to score. Richards made the conversion to give Wigan the lead for the first time in the match.

Both sides threw all they had in attack but neither could add extra points on the scoresheet. Warrington came closest through Atkins but he knocked on just metres from the line as Warrington attempted to overhaul the two-point deficit in the last 10 minutes.

Just two minutes later Atkins made amends for his earlier knock-on and linked up with Riley to set up Higham to score next to the posts. Atkins played Riley in space and Riley dinked the ball over Charnley. The ball bounced around in the in-goal area evading both Charnley and Tomkins and Higham slid on to the loose ball to score.

The Wolves almost made it two tries in as many minutes after a break from Higham and Myler. The home side tried to work the ball to Atkins on the left edge but Charnley got a hand to the ball as he tried to make an interception.

From the resulting set of six Hill put the Wolves further ahead with just five minutes remaining after bundling through Wigan’s defence to score under the sticks. Higham picked the ball up from dummy half and played in Hill who spotted a gap in the Wigan line for the try.

The Wolves held on for a crucial two points in the standings putting them just a point behind the Huddersfield Giants and just four behind tonight’s opponents with just a handful of games left to play in the season. Where are you doing your online betting with for upcoming fixtures?

Warrington: Hodgson, J Monaghan, Ratchford, Atkins, Rile; Briers, Myler; Hill, Higham, Wood, Waterhouse, Westwood, Grix
Replacements: Morley, M Monaghan, Carvell, Currie
T: Westwood, J Monaghan, Higham, Hill
G: Hodgson 3/4

Wigan: S Tomkins, Charnley, Goulding, Gelling, Richards; Smith, Powell; Mossop, L Tomkins, Crosby, Hansen, Farrell, Burke
Replacements: Hughes, Tuson, Spencer, Williams
T: S Tomkins, Gelling
G: Richards 2/2

Half Time: 10-0
Full Time: 22-12

Referee: Phil Bentham

RLFANS Man of the Match: Micky Higham

Attendance: 14,028